Peace
by Night Fiction
Summary: It's been a whole year since Rika's eternal torture ended with her triumph and preparation for the Watanagashi festival is coming up. Keiichi volunteers to help Rika. What will happen?


**Hey guys. I'm back after 3 years! Funny how time flies… So as some of you may have noticed, at least the ones who still remember me, I deleted Higurashi Rei… Yeah, I just lost the motivation to do that story and so… One shots are going to come out from me. Until I have some ideas for some new material. So umm… Yeah.**

How long has it been since she had been in a state of peace like this?

Rika Furude sat at the porch of the Furude Shrine, sweeping up the crunchy leaves that turned brown because of the heat. Though, it was summer, and in the middle of June, she felt a nice breeze that was ruffling her hair.

Maybe she would have been better off with the scorching heat, the breeze was scattering the leaves that she had worked so hard to push them in a pile! So it left Rika scurrying here and there to keep them from going off and making more off a mess. After all, no one would dare visit a shrine if its priestess was too lazy to keep it in shape, much less do a little work like brushing up annoying leaves.

Kimiyoshi had told her that at her age she should at least have some responsibility, Rika chuckled inwardly and decided 'what the hell?' and was going to do it herself, as always, but there was someone that volunteered to do the work for her.

One Keiichi Maebara to be exact, he told Kimiyoshi that since Rika was too young anyways and since she always had to do grueling work herself, in his words, so he decided to clean up the shrine.

"It's not that much of a problem," the plucky boy had said, "Rika-chan doesn't have to take on too much responsibility and besides, it's not like I'm lifting up heavy crap! I'll leave that to the grown-ups!"

He laughed at that. They all did. Keiichi was the type of guy who you could have a drink with. The type of guy who would always listen to you and help you the best he could. "The Magician of Words" they dubbed him, the guy who always knew what to say and when to say it.

'That was Keiichi… Funny… Charming…' Rika reflected, her grip on the broom loosening up, '….He would be a good boyfri-!'

Rika shook her head out of the trance she was in. What was she thinking?

Sure. Keiichi was a good-looking boy and he could sweet talk someone when he could but a boyfriend?

In all the years she's been alive… She never once thought of getting together with him, much less falling for him.

Sure! She'll never get tired of being with him but that didn't mean that she wanted to be _with with _him… Didn't that mean the same thing?

"Who cares!" She yelled at no one in particular. "Those meanings are different!"

"Hauau… Rika you're shouting…" A voice squeaked out.

Rika turned to see her friend and the closest thing she had to a mother: Hanyuu, the deity of Hinamizawa herself, Oyashiro-sama (not that the village people outside of her circle of friends knew about that little detail).

"Quiet! I was thinking about the difference of sake and beer! They are two different drinks so it's not right for some people to say that they are the same!" It was a poor excuse, even Hanyuu knew it.

Hanyuu fidgeted with her fingers, making the soft 'hau hau' noise that Rika was all too familiar (sometimes annoyed) with.

Hanyuu was once experienced with a child; she knew the anxieties children have when growing up, especially girls. She swallowed up her doubts and exhaled, after all, this is what a mother does with their daughter right?

"Rika… hau… I-If you want to talk… I'm… I'm… hauauau…." Then again Hanyuu was talking to Rika, and Rika being Rika well… She could be precocious and maybe too confident in herself to solve her own problems.

But today was different, what with Keiichi helping out around the shrine; it _may_ have put Rika in a good mood.

So Rika sighed and leaned on the broom, "It's not that I'm angry… I mean I'm on cloud nine! A whole year has gone by since our eternal torture came to an end… And I finally saw my body became the age of 13… but... I'm just feeling something different… y'know?"

Hanyuu sighed of relief; at least she wasn't suffering from the terrible spell of being a woman. She smiled, looking at Rika with her soft eyes…

"I was in love once too, Rika…"

_**SNAP!**_

The loud noise made Hanyuu jump!

"D-Did you just…?"

Rika held up the two sticks of the poor broom in her small, clutched fists.

"WH-WHA!" She shrieked, "IN LU-LU-LOVE? YOU STUPID GOD! YOU CREAM PUFF SUCKING IDIOT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?"

After trying to attack the poor unknowing god, Keiichi came to the rescue.

"Rika-chan!" He yelled trying to pry her off of Hanyuu, "Come on! Calm down!"

After a while of trying to explain what set Rika off, Hanyuu went to go enlist the aid of Satoko to nurse the bump on the little god's poor head.

Cue the awkward silence between Rika and Keiichi.

"…"

"…"

After a while of fake coughing and trying to catch each other's eye, Keiichi decided to make conversation.

"So… You're 13 now Rika-chan?" Keiichi asked, obviously forgetting that he attended the birthday party.

"Uh…Uh huh…" Perhaps Rika had forgotten too.

"I-I bet the boys are gonna be lining up for you!" The tall boy laughed. "Don't worry I'll punch 'em out for you Rika-chan!" Keiichi started punching the air like a boxer, adding an uppercut for emphasis. The poor air whistled with every punch it took.

"I do want to get married sometime Keiichi, I don't want to be forever alone." Rika piped in, with a small drop of sweat going down her face.

Keiichi stopped bullying the air to look at the petite girl.

"Married eh?..." He thought about it. Seeing Rika-chan married? Could he really stand that?

Come to think of it! Rena and Mion were both joking about it! Could they possibly found Rika a boyfriend?

'Nah…' He chuckled, 'They would have told me...' He thought about it. 'Rika-chan at least…'

Rika tippy toed and poked the young man's nose.

"Keiichi… I want to also get finished cleaning before everyone in the village and their mother start pigging out at my house," She smiled, "Nipah~!"

He snapped out of his thoughts. "Y-Yeah! Let's get to work! I want to get started on those punishment games as well! You watch Rika-chan! You and the other girls will be my personal maids before the night is over!"

Rika giggled, and looked up at the boy with a smile, "I wait for it, Keiichi Maebara."

She ran off laughing while Keiichi was confused at the mischievous smile she gave her. He realized on what she meant and sighed…

"We don't call her Rika the Tanuki for nothing…" He ran after her.

Hanyuu, having a fresh new band aid on her head saw the two children running together. She smiled in nostalgia. "Hau… I think I hear wedding bells."

All was well for everyone and everything… Well, except for the broom that was snapped in half that is.

**Well here it is. 1000 plus words in a oneshot story. How weird hm?**

**Well I've seen the new Higurashi Kira. I like it. It's an OVA and the club deserves to have fun after a long battle of the neverending June.**

**I don't want to read any bitching about the OVA in the reviews (if I get any D: ) I'll simply say, "I don't give a crap" and move on. **

**Plus Higurashi may be 80% kill but come on. You want to see them die again? They have a fetish for that for all you blood fans out there. It's called Guro. Enjoy. ;)**

**Well other than that… I apologize to the watchers that I have. I'm sorry. You may throw bricks at me now.**

**By the way, even if I'm no longer apart of DA, for all you KeiRika fans out there, please go join the KeiRika FC. The couple deserves a lot more support.**


End file.
